Elder Gods
The Elder Gods consist of two types, the Ahmora, who represent stability, and the Dhrellor, who represent change. They created the people and creatures of the universe, as well as he planets of Karindor and Fornemorst. When they died, their bodies became the other planets, stars, and moons. Origins The Elder Gods were created when Sylvaara came to the Changing Lands and usurped Paea from his throne. Lady Sylvaara gave herself to become the Realm of Existance, where Karindor and the other worlds are, and Paea's slaves breathed life into it. They were bonded together by the Agean Sigil which kept them from breaking apart so that they would not be destroyed by an imbalance of sameness and change. The Keepers of Unity guarded the Sigil until their destruction in 1 AE. Ahmora and Dhrellor The Ahmora and Dhrellor were two distinctly different types of gods, and it was apparent to the people of Karindor. Because the Ahmora were beings of sameness and stability, the people generally favored them. The structure and stability of the Ahmora helped their civilizations grow, helped them survive, and brought law and order to the world. Many regarded the Dhrellor as evil, as they were often associated with destruction, chaos, and crime. In many countries, especially as time went on, worship of the Dhrellor became illegal, and almost everywhere the summoning of Dhrelloric beings, the servants of the Dhrellor, from the Sacred Realm and Drellovia became outlawed. However the Dhrellor were still beloved by some, particularly the Wood Elves of Duriel, and many dark wizards and necromancers. The Elder Gods inhabited the Sacred Realm. which was split into three parts: Drellovia, Amorous, and the White City, which sat between them. The White City held the Pantheon of Elder Gods, the Palace of Agea, and the homes of Elder and Younger Gods alike. The Dhrellor ruled the kingdom of Drellovia and the Ahmora ruled the kingdom of Amorous, and their servants lived in those lands, as did they and their children, the Younger Gods. When the Dhrellor broke off from the Pantheon and retreated to Karindor during the Splitting of the Elder Gods, Drellovia was abandoned, but the Dhrellor were still tied to it and called their servants from there. The Sacred Realm was destroyed along with Karindor at the end of the First Age. Elder Gods before and after the Precursor Age The Elder Gods took drastically different roles in the Precursor Age than they did in the later ages, before their ultimate demise at the end of the First Era. The Tel'kai Revolution was the first major war among the Elder Gods' Creation, so the various gods took sides and tried to sway the war to suit their interests, or just for pleasure or sport. Some even sided against the mortals that worshiped them above all, like Coelia, goddess of the sky, turning against the dwarves and sending them to their deaths. Some gave those they supported great advantaged, like Euphrus, god of time, who loved Elensure, creator of elves, gave the elves the gift of long life. After the Tel'kai had taken almost the whole eastern half of Catavere and the empire had crumbled, the Elder Gods realized what they had done to their once perfect creations. They were ashamed, and tried to keep anymore wars from taking place. They scattered the races, starting the Great Diaspora of men and dwarves from the Catavere sub-continent. They then made a pact to never directly interfere in mortal affairs again. They created the weaker Younger Gods who served as protectors of the peoples and creatures of Karindor. Pantheon The pantheon of Ahmora and Dhrellor is long and confusing. Many Ahmora and Dhrellor are worshiped by some but not by others, some go by many names, and many go by one. Some are known and some are unknown. The Dhrellor are especially mysterious, as they are deceitful and not always true. There are thousands, possibly millions of Elder Gods. Ahmora * Malgruth - god of men * Elensure - goddess of elves * Dwagrim - god of dwarves * Laos - god of protection, Lett, and Tel'kai; the Great Lion * Celecor - the fallen god; no longer an Ahmora * Emuss - goddess of wild things * Euphrus - god of time * Coelia - goddess of the sky * Augurum - god of magic * Lossun - old god of the Sun * Moros - new god of the Sun Dhrellor * Zeheth - god of the dead * Sacarria - goddess of deceit * Pûmar - unknown Conflicts The Ahmora and the Dhrellor had three major wars, not including the Great War that was not waged between the majority of them. The first took place at their beginning, the second took place after the Tel'kai Revolution, and the third took place at their end. The first war, the War of Creation, was waged between the Ahmora and Dhrellor because of ideological differences. When their bones and blood fell to Karindor the Lett sprang from them, and built the Temple of Flesh, or Kath Ibum as it would come to be known in the Dhrelloric Changing Tongue. The Elder Gods made peace when they saw what their destruction had created, and they hated the Lett. The end of the Precursor Era brought on the Splitting of the Elder Gods in 1280 at the turn of the era. The Dhrellor were not happy about the new pact not to interfere in mortal affairs and to leave the work to the Younger Gods, who were mostly Ahmora. They left the Sacred Realm , and were stripped of their power by the Ahmora, and became spirits and dark forces in the mortal realm. They possessed some of the Lett, creating a new land in the Ashlands to the south: Sjinfallen, the Dark Realm. This was the first rise and fall of Sjinkor and the first time an Ahmora defected to the Dhrellor side. Destruction of the Elder Gods War in the Sacred Realm After the Great War (198 1E-217 1E) the gods were all but willing to abandon their creations and start fresh, having realized how flawed they were, and what they were capable of. But the gods decided to give them another chance to change. 200 years, they had, but the men and elves of Karindor were just as wicked as before. They had all but forsaken the gods, their temples becoming taverns and brothels. There had been a religious revival in Srrelketta due to the teachings of Sagrat the Peregrine, but for the most part the Blessed Races had strayed to far. The White Isles, Duriel, and the Far North had become chaotic and wicked lands. Much of central Karindor was still in ruins from the Great War. After 200 years a majority of the Ahmora decided it was time to clean the slate and start work on a new planet: Fornemorst. They could not, however, agree on how to create the new world. They wanted it to be perfect, and did not want to repeat the same mistakes as before. The trouble was figuring out where they went wrong. So hey argued on how to make the perfect world. Many Ahmora believed they should not desert Karindor to begin with. And so the Ahmora fought. And just like when the Ahmora fought before it created chaos on Karindor. And just like Karindor was created by a war among the gods, so was Fornemorst, so nothing changed, and history was repeated. War in Karindor When the Ahmora began fighting, chaos reigned on Karindor. Nature itself rebelled against the planet and its inhabitants. Catavere, the great continent, rose up from the sea on mountain legs and drank the ocean dry. Having gorged itself n all the water in Karindor, Catevere burst and died. The great beast rolled over, crushing all on its back into the earth. The Dhrellor spirits gained power from the chaos resulting from the Catavere Beast and the revolt of natural laws against civilization. With the power of gods returned to their hands they clawed apart the sky and entered the Sacred Realm and entered the Sacred Realm where the Ahmora were at war. To those remaining on Karindor appeared a great, terrifying spectacle unlike any other. They saw the Dhrellor and the Ahmora destroy each other in a great white light. The Dhrellor came together into a great red dragon and devoured the Ahmora. Aftermath When the Ahmora were slain their bodies became more planets, filling the emptiness, and new stars. When the Ahmora died, only the Dhrellor remained. But as it was told, without order chaos cannot be, or vice versa, because chaos is order without the semblance of it, and neither can exist without the other, much like the old saying that you cannot feel pain if it's all you ever feel. That is the order of things, the one true law. So when the Ahmora died, the Dhrellor, blinded by their arrogance, died with them. As the dragon swallowed the Ahmora it burst in a flash of light, and the new universe was born, and the second era began.